Keith Levene: Guitarist whose style defined Public Image Ltd

The musician’s talent for guitar helped influence both the post-punk and new wave scenes

Levene performing at Laugharne Weekend Festival in Wales, 2012 (Graham Harries/Shutterstock)

Keith Levene was the pioneering guitarist who played in two of the most influential bands to come out of the punk and new wave scenes of the late Seventies and early Eighties, The Clash and Public Image Limited (PiL).

Levene, who has died aged 65, had a unique “metallic” guitar playing style that, together with Jah Wobble’s pounding rhythmic bass, defined the PiL sound. Interviewed in 2001, he said: “Once I got good enough to know the rules, I didn’t want to be like any other guitarist. I didn’t go out of my way to be different.”

Julian Keith Levene was born in Muswell Hill, London, in 1957 to Harry Levene, a tailor, and May Levene, a hairdresser. His first musical interests during his teenage years were ska, reggae and progressive rock. Aged 15, he left school and became a roadie with the prog rock group Yes.

Levene’s punk transformation came at a concert by the Sex Pistols at the Nashville Rooms, London, as he recalled: “My eyes looked forward. There stood one Johnny Rotten... He was leaning over a microphone stand as he did back then. John let out this almost animal-like snarling noise. Every fibre of his body went into it. It was primal. I simply could not believe it. Or him!”

Aged only 19, he met bassist Paul Simonon and guitarist Mick Jones. Poaching Joe Strummer from the 101ers as their lead vocalist, the quartet formed the first line-up of the seminal punk outfit The Clash, playing their first gig in July 1976 at the Black Swan, Sheffield, supporting the Sex Pistols.

But he soon realised that the musical style of The Clash was not for him, as he later recalled, speaking about the day of his departure: “Anyway, my heart wasn’t in The Clash sound at all – I remember going to rehearsals and just being so depressed about their sound... I’m not into it, so I just leave my guitar up against the amp, feedback howling back like mad, like white noise, and I just walk out.”

And although Levene did not record with The Clash, he would soon go on to create another transformative group, whose sound would influence so many other musicians over the next four decades. Public Image Ltd was formed in 1978 by Levene, John Wardle (aka Jah Wobble) and John Lydon, just a few months after Lydon’s previous band, the Sex Pistols, had spectacularly imploded.

Their first studio album, Public Image: First Issue, was released that year on Virgin Records, with a debut single, “Public Image”, reaching No 9 in the UK singles chart. The music critic Stuart Berman notes of this LP: “First Issue’s industrial-strength stompers anticipate the scabrous art-punk of The Jesus Lizard and Slint, while Levene’s guitar curlicues on ‘Public Image’ are the stuff Daydream Nations are made of.”

The group would follow the success of their debut single with the haunting “Death Disco” (1979) and “Flowers of Romance” (1981), Levene being involved in co-writing both tracks.

“This Is Not A Love Song”, the group’s iconic 1983 hit, was penned by Levene, Lydon and Martin Atkins, remaining in the charts for 10 weeks and peaking at No 5.

In an especially memorable rendition of the track “Poptones” on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980, Levene’s shimmering metallic guitar can be heard at its absolute best, with Wobble’s trademark bass driving the rhythm.

Although Levene left PiL in 1983, he continued to collaborate and write with the band and released several solo albums. He had most recently lived in Norfolk, where he died at home from liver cancer.

Levene’s friend, the author Adam Hammond, said in tribute: “There is no doubt that Keith was one of the most innovative, audacious and influential guitarists of all time. Keith sought to create a new paradigm in music and, with willing collaborators John Lydon and Jah Wobble, succeeded in doing just that. His guitar work over the nine minutes of ‘Theme’, the first track on the first PiL album, defined what alternative music should be... So much of what we listen to today owes much to Keith’s work, some of it acknowledged, most of it not.”

He is survived by his partner, Kate Ransford, and his son, Kirk, from his previous marriage to the musician Lori Montana.

Keith Levene, musician, born 18 July 1957, died 11 November 2022

This article was amended on 29 November as it originally contained an incorrect image